


tree

by astralpenguin



Series: lead me to a future [4]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Maze, Angst, Friendship, Gen, Last day of school, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Slightly Hopeful Ending, Summer, Teresa is a Good Friend, Unrequited Crush, although that probably depends on your own definition of hopeful, even teresa, everyone is a good friend in this au, newt isn't coping very well, okay I lied, spoilers for main fic, they're 11 years old, this isn't even a little bit happy i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 21:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15693924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralpenguin/pseuds/astralpenguin
Summary: It was the last day of the school year. Everyone was buzzing with excitement.Newt hated every second.cannot be read as a standalone





	tree

**Author's Note:**

> the start of the first summer without thomas

Summer had come.

The snow had melted long ago. The sun shone throughout the days, basking the world in a warm light. It was the last day of the school year. Everyone was buzzing with excitement.

Newt hated every second.

How could he enjoy the sunshine? How could he _care_ that they were going to be in secondary school in just a couple of months? What did any of it matter?

Thomas wasn’t getting to live any of it.

While the rest of the class listened with rapt attention to whatever klunk Mr Janson was spewing about growing up and being more responsible, all Newt could think about was his friend.

Stuck in hospital.

Comatose.

Most of the year-group were going to the park after school. Some parents had planned a giant picnic and party to celebrate their finishing of primary school.

Or maybe they were just celebrating the fact that _their_ kid wasn’t the one that only narrowly survived a murder attempt, with said survival still being up in the air.

(Newt knew that wasn’t true, and that he wasn’t being fair, but he couldn’t help it.)

Anyway, Newt didn’t feel like celebrating. And he _didn’t_ want to go to the park.

He wanted to see Thomas.

“Hey.”

Someone stood in front of him, blocking his path to the classroom door.

“What do you want, Teresa?”

“You’re planning on going to the hospital, aren’t you?”

Newt shrugged. “You coming with?” She usually did, after all.

This time, however, she shook her head. “No. _You_ shouldn’t, either. Mary specifically told us not to go today.”

“She can’t stop me seeing him!”

“It’s just as much for her sake as it is ours.” She sighed. “Newt, I get it, but-”

“You don’t get it. You _can’t!_ ”

Fire flashed in her eyes. “He saved my life! I care about him too, okay? You don’t have a monopoly on being hurt by this. And I am _not_ going to stand by and let his mother, who’s been nothing but good to us, get hurt even _more_ because _someone_ decided to show his face on what should’ve been a big day for _all of us,_ because he thinks he’s the only one affected by it all.”

Her words had been harsh, but he’d needed to hear them.

He slumped forwards. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I guess I’ll just go home.”

He went to walk around her, but she blocked him again.

“Come with me,” she said.

“I’m not going to the park.”

“And if you come with me, neither am I.” She smiled, all trace of her previous anger gone. “There’s something I want you to see.”

He didn’t have anything to lose by going with her. Not anymore.

“Fine. Lead on.”

 

He recognised where they were going, but he didn’t want to believe it, so said nothing.

Surely she’d swerve off in a different direction. There was no way they were going to that place. She wasn’t supposed to know about it. _Nobody_ else was supposed to know about it.

He kept telling himself that right up until the moment they broke through the trees into the clearing.

A sole tree stood in the centre, taller than all the others. The grass was long, coming up past their ankles, and there were daisies and buttercups scattered all around.

It looked like paradise.

“What the _hell_ are we doing here?”

She smiled sadly, looking up at the tree. The leaves were a deep green, swaying gently in the breeze. “Tom brought me here once, when he was trying to reach out to me.”

Newt clenched his fists and turned away. It wasn’t her fault, and logically he knew that, but that didn’t make any difference.

“Why would he bring _you_ here?” he spat.

She flinched. “Remember when Beth tried to make people think I’d stolen the lunch money? It was that day. He was trying to make me feel better by showing me a ‘Christmas tree’ that was better than hers ever was.”

“But-”

“He said that he came here a lot, and that the only other person he’d ever brought here was you. He said it was special to him, so he only wanted to share it with the people he was closest with.” She shrugged. “He was trying to get me to stop being difficult. He was trying so hard to be my friend, I think that bringing me here was just a desperate attempt to get me to open up. But he actually meant it about you.” She turned to face him, and continued talking once it became clear that he wasn’t going to respond. “You’re the only one he told, because _you’re_ his closest friend.

Newt sighed and kicked at the ground. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Because you’re cutting yourself off, and I can’t stand it! The rest of us all talk to each other, and even have fun sometimes, but recently you’ve just been pretending! You’re getting more and more distant, and we’re worried about you!”

“So the others put you up to this?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly. They don’t know where we are. I just said that I’d talk to you.”

“I’m not getting distant.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

With great reluctance, Newt pulled his head up from where it had been looking at the ground, and turned towards Teresa.

Her eyes were shining with unshed tears, but otherwise her expression was fierce, like she wasn’t going to let this confrontation end in any way other than the way she wanted it to.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to not isolate yourself. We’re gonna be at a much bigger school in a few months, and we won’t be in the same class all the time, so we’re gonna actually have to make an effort to stay friends. And right now I don’t know if you’re willing to do that.”

New shrugged. “Even if I don’t, you’ll still see me when we visit-”

“Is that _really_ how you want to end up knowing each other? People you used to be friends with, but now barely talk, except when sitting around a hospital bed?” She shook her head. “Is that what Tom would want?”

He clenched his fists again. How _dare_ she use him against him like that. She had _no right._

Seeming to sense Newt’s rising anger, Teresa took a step back. “And what about when he wakes up?” she said, gentler than before. “It would be horrible for him, if he woke up and you were barely our friend anymore. He’s closest to _you._ He’d hate it. He’d hate that we’d fractured, and he’d hate that you were alone.” Her voice cracked. “Please don’t make yourself be alone.”

It was like someone had poured icy water on the fire that had been growing within him.

“Why?” he whispered, his gaze dropping back down to the ground.

“Why what?”

“Why do you care so much about me? I don’t understand.”

He saw something move, and was confused for a moment, before he realised what it was.

It was a tear.

He was crying.

When he felt her hands on his shoulders, he half expected himself to push her away.

But his body didn’t listen to this command.

He pulled her close and sobbed into her shoulder.

She held him as he cried, rubbing his back to soothe him.

Once he’d calmed down enough that he could actually hear, although the tears were still flowing, she said, “Newt, you’re my friend. Of _course_ I care about you. We all do. How could you think that we don’t?”

He choked out a laugh among the tears. “Because I’m an idiot, clearly.”

She wrapped her arms tighter around him. “Yes,” she said. “Yes you are.”

Newt let himself cry for a while longer.

When he finally pulled away from Teresa, he winced at the mess he’d left behind. “Sorry about your-”

She shook her head firmly. “Don’t worry, it’s warm, it’ll dry.”

“Sorry for getting angry, I just-”

She smiled. “Stop apologising already.”

“Sorry.”

_“Newt!”_

He held up his hands in surrender. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know! Use other words!”

Newt dropped his hands to his sides.

“I just lo-” He cut himself off and sighed. “I miss him.”

Teresa’s smile turned sad. “I know,” she said.

“I should’ve gone with him that day.”

“There’s nothing you can do about that now.”

“And they’re still _no closer_ to finding who did it.”

He had his own theories, but he was keeping them to himself. Nobody with any power to do something had listened to him when he’d tried to tell them, and he didn’t want to burden anyone else unnecessarily.

Teresa shook her head. “But he’s _alive,_ Newt. Focus on that.”

Newt smiled, fully aware of how strained it looked. “I’m trying.”

She shrugged. “I guess that’s all I can ask for.” She studied his face for a moment, and said, “We’ll go tomorrow morning, okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“Do you wanna go home now?”

Newt looked around at the clearing. At the glade. It was beautiful. It was calm. It was peaceful. It was untouched.

“Actually,” he said, turning back to her, “do you reckon there’s any food left at the picnic?”

Teresa beamed. “I’m sure there is.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me really happy : D
> 
> my askbox is always [open!!](http://astralpenguin.tumblr.com/)


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